1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector terminal including a contact-point portion that wipes off foreign material and a contact-point portion that is conductively connected with a mating connector terminal, and to an electric connector including the connector terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Foreign materials, such as substrate scrap and dust, are sometimes adhered to a terminal surface of a mating connector terminal with which a connector terminal is conductively connected. When such foreign materials enter a location between the terminal surface of the mating connector terminal and a contact-point portion of the connector terminal, conductive connection between the connector terminals may become unstable. To overcome this problem, a connector terminal including two contact-point portions for contact with the terminal surface of the mating connector terminal is used, with one of the contact-point portions being used for wiping off such foreign materials and the other contact-point portion being conductively connected with the terminal surface of the mating connector terminal. In this connector terminal, the two contact-point portions are provided in a direction in which this connector terminal is fitted to the mating connector terminal, and slidingly contact in succession the mating connector terminal. When the contact-point portion that contacts the mating connector terminal earlier (front contact-point portion) wipes off such foreign materials, and the other contact-point portion (rear contact-point portion) successively contacts the terminal surface of the mating connector terminal from which such foreign materials have been wiped off, it is possible to prevent unstable conductive connection caused by entry of such foreign materials into a location between a contact portion and the terminal surface of the mating connector terminal (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-69243).
When the plate thickness of the front contact-point portion and the plate thickness of the rear contact-point portion are the same, the rear contact-point portion may contact foreign material that has not been wiped off.
Specific examples in which such a situation occurs include a case in which foreign material adhered to a portion near a sliding path of the front contact-point portion and not completely wiped off by the front contact-point portion exists, and a case in which a mating connector terminal is inserted into a connector terminal in an obliquely tilted state instead of in a straight state with respect to a normal fitting direction.
Another example in which such a situation occurs is a case in which the front contact-point portion and the rear contact-point portion are warped in a plate thickness direction as a result of, when a connector terminal is an extraction terminal, contact with another member or a pressing operating during punching of a metallic plate. Here, the rear contact-point portion may contact a portion other than portions at the sliding path of the front contact-point portion, this portion being where foreign material has not been wiped off. As a result, conductive connection with a terminal surface of a mating connector terminal may become unstable when the rear contact-point portion moves onto the foreign material.